THE JUBILEE YEAR (LEV.25)
THE SHABATH YEAR
And while Moses was on Mount Sinai YAHUSHA said to him, “Give the following instructions to the people of Yisharal. When you have entered the land I am giving you (NOT AN OUTRIGHT TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP AS THOUGH THE LAND BEING GIVEN TO YOU IS COMPLETELY YOURS (TO DO WITH WHATEVER YOU WANT), THE LAND WAS SET-APART OR ASSIGNED TO YISHARAL) .... the land itself must observe a Shabath rest before Me every seventh year. For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year the land must have a Shabath year of complete rest. It is My Shabath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year and don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. THE LAND MUST HAVE A YEAR OF COMPLETE REST. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Shabath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces.
THE JUBILEE YEAR
In addition, you must count off seven Shabath years, (seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all). Then on the Day of Atonement (in the fiftieth year), blow the ram’s horn loud and long throughout the land. Set this year apart as a time to proclaim freedom and RELEASE throughout the land for all who live there. THE JUBILEE IS A SUPREME DEMONSTRATION OF YAHUSHA’S FAVOUR TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE THAT IS CARRIED OUT BY HIS PEOPLE.
This fiftieth year will be a Jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. And during that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don’t gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it set-apart. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own. WHILE IT WAS A YEAR OF SPECTACULAR CELEBRATION FOR MANY (IMAGINE HAVING A CLEAN SLATE AND ALL YOUR DEBTS WIPED AWAY) FOR OTHERS IT WAS A ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUTT, HAVING TO RELEASE SLAVES, LAND, DEBTS AND WORKERS, AND RE-ESTABLISH IT ALL AGAIN.
When you make an agreement with your neighbour to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other. When you buy land from your neighbour, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price, the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. Show your fear of Me by not taking advantage of each other, for I am Yahuah your Alahim. So if you want to live securely in the land, follow My instructions, then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.
THE HISTORICAL RECORDS LEFT BY THE BABYLONIANS, PERSIANS, AND ROMANS TESTIFY THAT ONE OF THE REASONS THESE CONQUERERS DESIRED TO CONTROL YISHARAL WAS BECAUSE OF ALL THE FABULOUS FRUIT, VEGETABLES, AND GRAINS THEY PRODUCED. YET THE CONQUERERS’ PLANS BACKFIRED BECAUSE EVERY TIME THE HEBREWS WERE EXPELLED FROM THEIR HOMELAND, THE LAND STOPPED PRODUCING. But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’ Be assured that I will send My blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year.
REDEMPTION OF PROPERTY
The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the LAND BELONGS TO ME. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me. With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. If one of your fellow Yisharalites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then A CLOSE RELATIVE SHOULD BUY IT BACK FOR HIM (KINSMAN REDEEMER) and if there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, he then has the RIGHT TO REDEEM it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land. But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.
Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back. But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. But a house in a village, a settlement without fortified walls, will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them and any property that is sold by the Levites, all houses within the Levitical towns must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all of Yisharal. The open pastureland around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession.
THE POOR AND ENSLAVED
If one of your fellow Yisharalites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you. Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense. Instead, show your fear of Me by letting him live with you as your relative. Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him or make a profit on food you sell him. I am Yahuah your Alahim Who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of CANAAN and to be your Alahim.
If one of your fellow Yisharalites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave. Treat him instead as a hired worker or as a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee. At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clans and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors. The people of Yisharal are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves. Show your fear of Me by not treating them harshly.
However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. You may also purchase the children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves, but you must never treat your fellow Yisharalites this way.
Suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Yisharalites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family, they still retain the right to be bought back, even after they have been purchased. THEY MAY BE BOUGHT BACK BY A BROTHER, AN UNCLE, OR A COUSIN. IN FACT, ANYONE FROM THE EXTENDED FAMILY MAY BUY THEM BACK (KINSMAN REDEEMER). They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Yisharalites harshly. If any Yisharalites have not been bought back by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time. For the people of Yisharal belong to Me. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahuah your Alahim.
